True or False: Aortic Stenosis Treatment Increased 100% in Just 8 Years
Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Medical Expert: Michael Mack, MD, Baylor Scott & White Health
Published: December 4, 2023
As we have discussed many times at this blog, heart valve disease is under-diagnosed and under-treated. In fact, leading physicians that specialize in the treatment of aortic stenosis, a narrow aortic valve, often refer to this disease as a “silent killer”. As you can read in this article, “The Aortic Stenosis Danger Zone Is Here”, one of those physicians is Dr. Michael Mack, who is the Medical Director of Cardiothoracic Surgery for Baylor Scott & White Health (BSW) and the Chairman of BSW The Heart Hospital – Plano Research Center.
To learn more about the medical treatment of aortic stenosis, I recently attended the Controversies & Advances in the Treatment of Cardiovascular Disease Conference in Los Angeles, California. At the conference, I was fortunate to see Dr. Mack present a fascinating lecture titled, “Long Term TAVR Follow-Up in Perspective: What Is the Role of Surgery Moving Forward?”, which focused on transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) using tissue and mechanical valve replacements, and other treatment options including the Ross Procedure.
Annual Treatment of Aortic Stenosis (2012-2020)
A key insight shared by Dr. Mack was specific to the recent increase of aortic stenosis treatment during the past 8 years.
“One of the most important slides in this presentation is specific to the rise of aortic stenosis treatment. As you can see in this graph (shown above), the number of aortic stenosis patients treated each year has increased from 75,000 patients in 2012 to over 150,000 patients in 2020.” — Dr. Michael Mack
Needless to say… This is WONDERFUL NEWS given all the hard work this community of patients, care partners, doctors, physician assistants, nurses, hospitals, medical companies and research organizations has performed to raise awareness to aortic stenosis and its treatment. While there is so much more work to do… Great job everybody!
A special thanks to Dr. Michael Mack and his team at Baylor Scott & White The Heart Hospital – Plano for their long-time support of patients around the world and the HeartValveSurgery.com community!
Keep on tickin’ Mike!
Adam
Written by Adam Pick
- Patient & Website Founder
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